Love Happens

Chapter eighteen

Mumbai
•
•
•



"I won't interfere in what they don't want me to interfere in. I'll stay here only because I don't have money to repay them. To repay the fake money I'm sure my mother didn't accept." Shraddha chanted to herself till she reached Anand's room. As he was still with Poonam, she went into the shower, bathed, came out, and got ready in a plain maroon saree that had embellished borders, along with a maroon blouse. Her hand was about to pick up the box of vermilion that she applied on her forehead every day, but she remembered she wasn't there as Anand's wife anymore. It was only to repay a loan. She abandoned it by turning.

Just then, Anand walked into the room.

He groaned loudly and tiredly. "What are you still doing here? Didn't you say you'd leave?"

"I will leave after I repay your mother. She said she had given my mom money before we married...."

"Whatever. I'm not interested. You can go. I'll pay Mother." He chipped in before she finished because he wasn't really enjoying talking with the woman who made his daughter go on her knees to beg her.

"You don't have to. I will pay her myself by staying here until the election. After that, be rest assured, I'll leave the house forever." She replied, and for the first time, she hid her pain so perfectly that she made sure it didn't get revealed by her manner of speaking.

Anand was amazed and glad she accepted that he'd never love her.

"Here is proof for you that I'm going soon. I took a bath today, got ready, yet didn't apply the vermillion because I have no one to apply it for." she added. The tears that were about to give her away by falling made her quickly walk past him and go out.

He shrugged unbotheredly and proceeded to take a bath himself.

Outside, Shraddha reached downstairs to the general living room. In there, Poonam was resting on the sofa, her leg stretched out to a servant who was massaging it. Beside her was a fruit bowl. She ate it while watching a television serial.

Her eyes moved to Shraddha when she saw a shadow nearing them.

"You're still here?" she inquired unenthusiastically.

"I'll be here for a few more days, but don't worry. I'll not try to be your mother." she answered.

Poonam chuckled briefly. "I don't care. Your attempts have never worked on me in the past. So, you being here and you not being here doesn't really make a difference."

"Good."

"Let me tell you some bad news. You tried your best to stop my father from celebrating my birthday. You almost succeeded, but thank God I showed him your true face. Tonight, he'll take me to dinner to celebrate it."

"My face was always true. I never asked him not to celebrate it. You hate me naturally, so I won't try to justify myself to you because you've made up your mind to hate me, and nothing I say will make you change it. I wish you a happy birthday." She replied with a small, genuine smile and was about to take a sit on the sofa when Poonam stopped her.

"What do you think you're doing? Leave my sight. I don't wish to stay with you in the same room."

Shraddha flouted her command and sat down.

"How dare you disobey me?" she exclaimed at her. "Father! Grandfather!" she shouted their names. Anand's father reached downstairs first in a hurry. He went to his granddaughter, disregarding Shraddha's presence there, and asked her what the matter was.

"Shraddha. She is annoying. I hate her. I hate her a lot. I asked her not to sit here, but she disobeyed me. She disobeyed me, grandfather." she complained in a rude voice to him.

Anand's father sent a hot, chilly glare towards Shraddha.

"Get up and leave. If she doesn't want you here, you can't sit down. She is very precious. Whoever makes her angry will face me."

His stiff warning got Shraddha to stand up.

"You're spoiling her. I know it's not my place to say this, but at some point in time, she'll leave this house to go to her in-laws home. She may not get the comfort she gets here." Shraddha spoke.

"My granddaughter will get married to the richest man in the country, who will be a puppet for her. This, I assure you."

"I love you, Grandfather." Poonam hugged him.

"I love you too."

Shraddha walked away from there. She went outside the house and saw a beautiful white horse eating the grass in the garden. It resembled an angel with its hairy body and pure white color.

She approached it, and once it shrieked from her, but as soon as she plugged out some grass for him, he allowed her to touch him. She caressed his soft fur.

"Ma'am, ma'am, please step away." She heard a breathless voice coming her way. She stopped feeding the horse to listen to the elderly uncle.

"Why?" she inquired.

"No one can touch it except Ms. Poonam and me. It's her precious possession. She loves it a lot. She doesn't let anyone get close to it because it was the last gift she got from her mother.

Shraddha nodded slowly and stepped away. "Okay." She agreed to stay away. As she promised herself, she wouldn't meddle in anything she wasn't asked to. Including feeding Poonam's horse.

••••

She spent her day alone, doing nothing except walking here and there, resting, going to the window, staring out for a few hours, returning to bed, eating, and napping. That was how her day went by.

"Shraddha!" Came Mother's voice.

"There's no joy in living here." She spoke her mind while admiring the flower vase.

"Anand is going out with the kids. You also get ready because you're going along."

"Did he invite me? I won't go to a place I'm not invited."

"He can't take care of two children on his own. I'm meant to go, but with you still around, it won't be appropriate. Moreover, you both have not made a public appearance together since your marriage. It's about time you told the people everything is fine between you."

"Is everything really fine?" Shraddha grinned briefly.

"Your definition of fine and my definition of fine may not be the same because, in my view, everything is fine between you two."

"Okay, Mother. I'll get ready, but if Anand asks me not to go along, I won't."

His mother nodded before leaving.

She did some touch-ups on her face. By touching up, applying more kohl, and putting on a colorless lipstick on her pink lips. She went out of the room to descend downstairs. There, Anand was in a black tuxedo, looking younger than his age. Beside him were Riddhima and Poonam, all glammed in their beautiful evening gowns and ready to leave, but because Anand's mother wasn't out yet, they waited for her.

"Shraddha, thank God you agreed to go." Anand's mother called as she went nearer to them. The family noticed Shraddha's presence.

Anand's mother's hand rested against her belly.

"I had a cramp earlier, and now I'm suffering from a stomach ache. I asked Shraddha to go with you instead of me. I can barely walk."

"Mother, are you alright?" Shraddha got worried and went over to her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine by tomorrow." She said and leaned closer. "I'm alright. Don't be worried unnecessarily." She whispered.

"She doesn't have to come. I'll take care of the children by myself." Anand spoke.

Shraddha looked at his mother. The type of look that reminds her of what she told her: that she won't go if he refuses to take her along.

"Disobey me in front of your children. Teach them not to listen to me." she replied.

"What?" Anand jaw dropped.

"Yes. You're showing them you've grown big enough that my words have become meaningless in your life."

"You're mistaken, Granny. We love you a lot. We'll always listen to you, but not tonight. We won't take Shraddha. She'll spoil my birthday. Poonam spoke.

Anand breathed heavily. He didn't want to agree, but he didn't want his children to get the wrong message. They should always heed their elders talks, and only because of that did he answer. "She can come along." He turned and left.

Shraddha and his mother exchanged bright looks.

"Uggggggghhhhhjj. It's going to be the worst birthday dinner." Poonam said as she walked out of the house with Riddhima.

"It will be the best first dinner for you both." Anand's mother cheerfully told Shraddha.

"How so? I'm leaving after the election. It's in a few days. Then, this first dinner will also be the last." She muttered in sadness.

"I'm trying my best to make sure you don't leave after the election. I'll bring you both together since you don't wish to acknowledge you have everything with you."

"Is that why you said I must pay the money you didn't give Mom before leaving?"

"I gave her the money. Nevermind, forget that. I really like you. I want you to be my son's wife. Even though you made mistakes, you'll learn the corrections along the way."